


The Inn for Spirits, Oni and Yōkai

by Gothams_Only_Wolf



Series: Oni, Inu, Ryū [1]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale, Rurouni Kenshin, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi | Spirited Away, かくりよの宿飯 | Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi | Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, M/M, Non-Canon Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25390642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gothams_Only_Wolf/pseuds/Gothams_Only_Wolf
Summary: Whereupon the Lord of the West tests a new Inn. His son finds its Young Master lacking, the Young Master finding the same of the son of the Inu no Taisho, though both have a great deal more to grow.
Relationships: Himura Kenshin & Sesshoumaru (InuYasha), Himura Kenshin/Sesshomaru (Inuyasha - A Feudal Fairytale), Inu no Taishou/Sesshoumaru's Mother, Ōdanna (Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi) & Sesshomaru (Inuyasha -A Feudal Fairytale)
Series: Oni, Inu, Ryū [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1684588
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32





	The Inn for Spirits, Oni and Yōkai

**Author's Note:**

> I did mention that this _is_ a series and well, the Muses are now obliging magnificently, if for the wrong fic XDD
> 
> Enjoy~

* * *

****

**-Heian Era, 1000, Tenjin-ya's Opening-**

* * *

Landing in the courtyard, Sesshomaru glanced with practiced disinterest at his surroundings. This was not the Western Palace nor would it achieve the same level of elegance of the Foo Dog fortress. 

"Sesshomaru," Mother chided, gathering him close. 

He mimicked his Father in bowing, going no lower than permitted by his own status, before straightening again. 

"Impertinent pup," Father chuckled, gently ruffling his bangs. Sesshomaru leaned into the affection before he ruffled himself back into cold confidence. "Princess Iso, my son Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru, this is Iso no Kimi, though you may call her Iso-sama. Ougon-Douji, my son." 

The purple gaze of the small zashiki-warashi flicked to his tail, his sode, the sword he bore made of Father's fang and said, "Hn, he'll make an excellent playmate for my Young Master." 

Playmate?! 

Sesshomaru huffed out a sharp disagreement, his tail snapping out at the end before he quelled his reaction. "This one is too old for play, Ougon-Douji-sama." 

"Precisely why you and _Jinpachi_ will get along perfectly~" she replied as his muscles locked up unwillingly. 

Sesshomaru forced his tail to pin himself to his Father, leveling the older yōkai with a look he'd perfected. "Release this one at once." 

"Oh, a battle of wills. Ougon-Douji-sama, he'll be the guest to work with." The hellish red burned from under the horns of an ogre roughly his age. 

Sesshomaru flexed his youki and snapped the hold, the rules of the guest the only restraint he allowed. "This one will be no ogre's plaything. He will be a perfect guest, as his Chichiue and Hahaue expect no less of him; he will not bow nor make time for play." 

"We'll see," 

"Hnn."

* * *

The afternoon found Sesshomaru wandering the grounds, studiously avoiding the other guests now arriving and moving into the stillness of the inner courtyard. 

He practiced with his poison whip, careful to keep a distance from the flowers that spread their own youki and kept to the grass. 

The whip caught on something and Sesshomaru dissipated the weapon. It could possibly burn another—The ogre. 

No, he supposed, Young Master Jinpachi.

The urge he'd had to pull through the resistance returned instantly. 

"What business does he have interfering with this one's practice, Young Master?" Sesshomaru sniffed delicately as the wind ruffled his mokomoko. 

"Your practice was frightening our less-powerful guests, Sesshomaru-san." The wicked glint made Sesshomaru surpress the urge to extend his fangs. 

"He is Sesshomaru-sama." He corrected with an ice colder than that of Hokkaido in winter. "This one does not repeat himself unless the subject in question is a fool." 

The unspoken implication was that Young Master Jinpachi, should he think to use his wiles on Sesshomaru, would end up with one _less_ limb than he'd entered Sesshomaru's space with. 

"Sesshomaru-sama, your Lord Father requests your company," one of their servants, a soft weasel demon barely capable of taking a two-legged form, knelt to the side and right of him. 

"Lead the way, Shin-san. This one would appreciate his Chichiue's presence."

* * *

"Sesshomaru, you frightened some of the lesser demons with your whip kata," Father chided. 

"This one was careful. He kept to the grass and the inner courtyard. He did not touch the flowers which spread their own youki." Sesshomaru explained quietly, examining his talons for scuffs. 

"... Ah. Then it was your youki which frightened the kappa and the daruma housed on the first floor. That you cannot help for at least another hundred years. Practice on the balcony then, if it pleases you. You did well to reign in your temper, my son." 

"Can this one practice in the forest he saw?" 

Father clicked his tongue and pulled a bamboo tube closer, taking off the lid with care. 

"There are yōkai living in there too, my son." A small white nose poked out, followed by soft cat shaped yōkai. "Little tube cats." 

Sesshomaru softened briefly, gently cradling it in his talons, murmuring little praises to the small creature who played with his hair. 

"I know that the Young Master is tugging at your tail and your temper. You must learn to tolerate those of equal rank, my son. He will be Hachiyo one day. Ougon-Douji would not pick her successor without a great deal of thought." 

"This one should be better," he countered quietly, the looming presence of Grandfather lingering still though he had passed last century. 

His Father looked pained at that. "No, my son, only better than your past self." 

"He will practice on the balcony." 

"Gently and even the tube cats might join your dance," Father offered lightly, ruffling his hair again. Sesshomaru—out of the sight of the prying public—leaned full force into the touch with his ears tilting down. He bunted for more as though he were still a pup. "The one who catches your attention and holds it will be lucky indeed, Sesshomaru." 

"Hnn," he liked the idea of the tube cats.

* * *

With his youki held in check as best he could manage, Sesshomaru practiced with the whip, though if anyone had been looking, the kata were all wrong. 

He was playing with the tube cats, teaching them to skip over the thin green line, encouraging them with bits of the dumpling he'd snuck into his sleeve. 

"No, no, this one suggests heading for the dumpling he has for you, little one," Sesshomaru dangled the bit, tone quiet but warm. 

The tube cats scattered at a stifled giggle, all of them hiding in his mokomoko and a few in his armor. 

"The great and ferocious warrior Sesshomaru-sama playing jump rope with our tube cats," the Young Master's derision made Sesshomaru angry before he gave Jinpachi a smile. 

The sort his Mother leveled at yōkai too foolish to realize they'd fallen right into her trap. 

"Why Young Master Jinpachi, this one is more than pleased to inform him that such falsehoods will not be tolerated by the Foo Dog household." 

"Oh?" 

"Indeed, and those indebted to the household will refute such an ill characterization of thier future Lord." He continued blithely, feeding bits of dumpling to his mokomoko and coming away with empty fingers. "How anyone will believe his word should such a falsehood become rumor? How will the Inn retain its respectability?" 

Jinpachi's mouth opened, he raised a taloned finger and then grinned, "How very clever of Sesshomaru-sama." 

"This one is practicing whip kata, as he has been since the beginning of his stay at lovely Tenjin-ya." He murmured as he flicked the crumbs away and didn't acknowledge the tube cats flowing after them. 

"He sees that he will have to step up his mastery to be worthy of his Inn," the Young Master offered wryly. 

"Hnn, this one would say that it is best to be only battling a past self." 

"Where might such an ogre find such advice?" 

"Ougon-Douji-sama, Iso no Kimi or this one's honored Father." Sesshomaru replied, the feeling of victory making him magnanimous. 

"Will Sesshomaru-sama wait until this one is an ogre god?" 

"Why would this one wait?" 

"Because, a god is _better_ than Daiyōkai," came the reply, complete with a blown raspberry from the ogre.

"This he will have to see for himself, should Tenjin-ya become better than the rumored bathhouse to the east and south*. He may count on this one to return within the Foo Dog retinue and on his own." Sesshomaru allowed even as the tube cats gently bunted against his stripes and flew to their homes in the bamboo forest. 

"Then this ogre will have something to look forward to," Jinpachi teased.

* * *

****

**-Meiji Era, 1878, Tenjin-ya-**

* * *

Sesshomaru landed in the courtyard, accompanied by Shippo, knowing that this particular source would be much harder to pull information from without a contract. 

"Welcome to Tenjin-ya, would you like a room prepared or has one been set aside for you, sir? I am Ginji, the Young Master of this establishment." 

"This one has an appointment with the Ōdanna, if it please the Young Master Ginji to tell him of the whereabouts of such a figure." 

"And whom may I say is calling?" 

"This one is Sesshomaru-" 

"-sama, this god remembers. What brings such illustrious company to our humble Inn?" 

"He believes that to be the content of said meeting," he countered, curbing his tongue away from Kenshin's form of speech. "Would the Ōdanna lead the way?" 

"And his companion?" 

"Shippo, of the Inutachi, at your service," the four tails waved cheerily. 

"Hmm, a member of the Shikon no Tama guardians. Rest and refreshment will be brought to you, fine sir." To Sesshomaru, he murmured, "This way, Daiyōkai."

* * *

"Why am I being honored by your presence after some two hundred years of off and on again company?" 

"This one is... He has found a descendant of Ryūkotsusei." 

"Have you killed them?" Jinpachi _would_ ask that, knowing the Inu no Taisho's death the way he did; the closest being to a friend Sesshomaru had managed in centuries. 

"He has followed in his honored father's footsteps in falling in love with the enemy." Sesshomaru sneered over his tea cup, absently scritching his favorite tube cat over the eyes to hear it purr. "A ryū-hanyō, with no parent to guide him through his pup phase and an inner dragon that rouses only when he is in danger or near a trusted female human." 

"Hmm, that is quite the conundrum. This god would direct him to the Kohaku River, particularly its source and recommend that the Daiyōkai not drown when the dragon defends himself." 

"This one thanks him," 

"He may not when he is hacking up the Kohaku River." 

"Hnn, a risk this one knows is worthy." 

"Daiyōkai," 

"Ogre God." He quipped back, the faintest hint of a smile tracing his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Comment, complain, ect.
> 
> * the bathhouse of Spirited Away, mentioned because of the significance of another inn beating it for customers


End file.
